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Running can be tough, not just on our bodies, but on our emotions and psyche.

This is especially true whenever we experience any perceived setback; injuries, a rough workout or a less than desired performance in a race.

We all talk to ourselves, whether we’re aware of it or not, but many people don’t realize that this self-talk actually affects our performance. This is both good and bad, depending on the type of self-talk in which we engage ourselves.

If we habitually beat ourselves up after a setback, this can become detrimental to our running. On the other hand, if we use more positive self-talk, even after a setback, we can recover from it that much better.

Evie Serventi, a competitive runner and swimmer, is the Deputy Editor of Running Fitness magazine in the UK and is also a Sports Psychologist.

In this episode, she talks to us about the importance of Mental Training and shares with us techniques that she recommends for training our brains to help us run better and to not sabotage the effort we put into our physical conditioning.

As you will hear, Evie and I have a wonderfully close relationship. She has been a tremendous resource for me and I think you will come away with actionable steps that will get your brain and body working more effectively together.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

How running is helping refugees cope in England

How Evie has helped Tina PR

How to be aware of our self-talk and use it to perform even better

Self-encouragement vs. Excuses

How to use ‘Check-ins” to become aware of our mental states and adjust accordingly.

How could a running diary help?

What is ‘Reframing’ and how can we use it to improve our performance?

Questions Evie is asked:

4:40 Tina’s Big Announcement

7:05 Evie’s Big Announcement

10:10 Will running be a part of it?

12:08 How did you become Deputy Editor for Running Fitness Magazine?

16:33 How did you get into sports psychology?

19:47 What advice would you give to someone who, later in life, is considering making a big career change or going back to school for something new?

22:00 What about the refugee group you’re working with?

28:57 Why be kind to yourself vs. being tough on yourself?

34:26 What does ‘Be Kind To Yourself” actually mean?

35:26 Should someone work on this prior to a race or can someone start doing it once they are racing?

38:11 How can people start putting these “Mental Bottles” into practice?

42:14 How do you avoid letting ‘being kind to yourself’ turn into just making excuses?

45:04 What’s a good exercise for people to start with?

48:32 What other mental strategies would you suggest for those thinking that they are struggling in various ways.

52:27 What are your future plans, website, other info?

55:05 Are you still taking on new clients?

59:13 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Evie:

“Run your own race; control what you can control.”

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

“If you want to do something, you find a way.”

“The risk, though with (motivating yourself via) negative emotions, or feeling angry, even if you feel that they’re positive at the time, is that they’re generally not sustainable.”

“Self-talk is part of your mental training.”

“There IS a lot you can control about your own performance and your own actions. You can’t control the weather, you can’t control the amount of runners, the speed of the other runners. But what you CAN control is your attitude and the way you approach the run.”

“Keeping a diary of what you’re thinking, during a run, after a run / post-run thoughts, can often be quite revealing and help you in terms of “Where do I start? I’m not confident and I don’t feel like I’ve got the mental toughness to do this race.”

“Ask other people; observe what other people who you think have mental toughness do. How do they train? What do they wear? What sort of statements do they say? What sort of language are they using?”

Mentioned in this podcast:

Fast Feet Forward (FFF) is a pilot research study lead by Dr Ana Draper for Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust in collaboration with Virtual Schools Kent and a small local charity, Kent Kindness. The study involves a sport-based early intervention trauma group protocol for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) who now live in Kent. The idea behind the intervention is to coach a group of young (male) asylum seekers through a series of running drills and fast feet movements to help them process trauma - trauma which they may have experienced back in their country of origin, on their journey to the UK, and ongoing trauma as a result of the stressful immigration process taking place.

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

Sleep Illiteracy? Sleep Education? Sleep Management? Is it really a big deal? We’ve all been sleeping our entire lives, but do we even think about sleep correctly?

Luke Gupta graduated from the University of Bath with a B.Sc in Sport and Exercise Science and completed an M.Sc in Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University. Currently, Luke is conducting a part-time PhD Studentship into Sleep and Athletic Performance in collaboration with the English Institute of Sport.

He worked with some of the Rio Olympians across many different sports on their sleep habits. In this episode, Luke shares with us what his research and experience has shown him about how the function and significance of sleep in an athlete's life.

The way Luke talks about ‘sleep’, it sounds like an actual entity with it’s own set of rules.

For those of us who have spent many nights waiting anxiously for sleep to overtake our racing minds, he may not be far off. How can people who have difficulty falling asleep learn these rules and thus manipulate them to our advantage?

Listen as Luke decodes the inner workings of sleep, confronts myths that have permeated our ‘understanding’ of sleep and gives us all practical methods for getting all the sleep we’ll ever need.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

The roles our genetic and early adolescent personality traits play in determining the sports we excel in.

Is 8 hours a night really the magic number for sleep for everyone?

Does going to bed early equate to more rest?

How Circadian Rhythms affect our sleep habits.

Why your bed should not be a multitasker.

Internal vs. External sleep aids

Performance vs. well-being

Is it possible to front-load sleep before a race?

Questions Luke is asked:

3:30 How did you get into your current field and position?

6:05 Has your experience reaffirmed that this is the area you want to focus on?

6:51 What does your job look like? What are some of your favorite parts of working with athletes regarding sleep and performance?

9:05 How did you help the Rio Olympians optimize their sleep for their competitions?

11:12 What differences did you see between the different types of sports / athletes?

15:01 Does all this apply to recreational athletes as well as Elite Athletes?

17:05 What are some common myths about sleep and can you debunk them?

18:40 How does anyone know what their optimal amount of sleep is?

22:45 What if someone gets up unusually early, say for a 4:00 a.m. flight; what should they do to catch back up on their sleep?

24:45 Other myths you’d like to bust?

26:46 What has your researched uncovered about how sleep affects changes to performance, motivation and physiology?

31:12 What are some of the things that you’ve found help people fall asleep?

34:17 If someone’s mind won’t shut down when they’re trying to fall asleep, what should they do?

38:13 What are the pros and cons of using sleep aids?

43:18 Other suggested sleep aids or behavioral sleep aids?

45:04 How can we avoid psyching ourselves out while waiting to fall asleep?

47:17 Based on your research, how close is the correlation to sleep and performance?

50:53 What should someone do to manage anxiety the night before a race?

54:03 Do you have any planned research we can keep up to date with?

58:40 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Luke:

“My research recently found that there’s big differences between sports and how the athletes sleep and perceive sleep.”

“Listen to your body.”

“Sleep is quite an automated process in that if you’ve had a bad night’s sleep one night, the next night’s sleep will, more likely than not, be that much better given the opportunity. That’s just how sleep works.”

“You can’t just say if you’ve had a bad night’s sleep you’re going to perform poorly.”

“The way sleep works is: the longer you stay awake, the sleepier you feel.”

“When you try to do anything with sleep, that’s when it tends to go wrong.”

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

Jay Dicharry may or may not have taken Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies quiz, but it’s safe to say that he’s probably a Questioner. Jay is not afraid to question beliefs that many of us have blindly accepted for years and study if, in fact, there is actually any truth in them or if there are better ways to train to avoid injuries. He has a passion for this ‘Pre-Habbing’ which goes back to his injury-prone youth.

Jay is a renowned expert in biomechanics and physical therapy and is also the author ofAnatomy for Runners. In this episode, he challenges us to reevaluate parts of our accepted, conventional training and running wisdom.

He does a great job of deconstructing clinically complex concepts into easily understandable ideas and examples. He breaks down things like Strength Training versus Power Training and the differences between joint limitation or blockage, shortened tissues, stiffness / sticky tissues, and dynamic mobility.

Our conversation covered a lot of ground and included many additional resources as noted by the links below. This may very well be an episode that you will want to listen to multiple times to explore these and evaluate what changes you may want to integrate into your own personal program.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

How to leverage strength training to improve your running while reducing your volume.

How to evaluate a potential strength coach or options if you don’t have access to one.

Risk / Reward balance of using different types of shoes for training / racing.

Jay’s Mobility / soft-tissue work philosophy.

The difference between ‘stretching’ and ‘dynamic mobility’ and which you should do before a run.

Questions Jay is asked:

3:50 When did you determine that biomechanics was your passion?

6:37 Is there still a lot of misinformation portrayed within the PT / sporting world?

8:07 Do you still get frustrated when people repeat ‘facts’ they haven’t verified or is it getting better with more readily available information?

10:30 What is it that drives you to keep exploring?

12:33 Is there anything surprising that you’ve learned about Pre-Hab along the way?

14:42 Who else can people reference for up-to-date information

16:17 Is the UVA Running Medicine Conference open to the public?

17:14 (Listener Question) If you could go back and rewriteAnatomy For Runners, is there anything you would change?

18:58 Is there another book in the works?

19:25 What is your philosophy on strength training and plyometrics?

20:52 Exactly what type of training are you referring to by ‘Strength Training’?

27:07 When selecting a Strength Coach, how important is it that they have a running background?

29:45 What can you tell us about the Saucony Stride Lab for those who may not have access to a running lab?

34:20 Why did you choose to work with Saucony?

35:18 Were you part of the design team for the Saucony Freedoms?

35:41 (Listener Question) If you’re running in a heavier / bulkier shoe, is there an injury risk to doing the workouts or races in a lighter shoe if you train in the heavier shoe?

39:34 Can we trust our GPS / wearable tech with our biomechanics or are they inaccurate?

40:29 When it comes to imbalances or weaknesses, is it an issue if one part, or side, of your body is stronger than the other?

43:25 If you do all the form trainings we discussed, you’re prolonging the amount of time your body is able to hold good form when running?

44:21 Should people who sit all day at work and run after work stretch between working and running?

49:25 How often do you recommend that runners should perform foam rolling / mobility / soft-tissue work? Every Day?

55:00 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Jay:

“There’s still the folks out there saying ‘Running is going to kill you and you need to stop’.”

“I don’t like being the person paving the way; I like being the person helping people.”

“ ‘What’s the ONE thing to do?” and the reality is that life isn’t that simple, right? If it was, then nobody would have problems.”

“There is very good research out there to show that running does NOT make you strong. Running efficiency DOES improve when you improve the way that you carry yourself.”

“At the end of the day, the runners who are serious find a way to get in the weight room. The runners I work with, the people I’ve introduced to this, I don’t know any of them who have STOPPED doing this at all even from a novice up to an elite level.”

“The goal is to build a running-specific plan to RUN better, not just to lift more weight in the gym.”

“If it’s not improving running economy and making your body more robust in terms of injury reduction, then you shouldn’t be doing it.”

“If you’re a soccer player and you’re more accurate in shooting goal with your right foot, that’s fine, right? But, when you run both legs have to show up.”

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

For someone in their late 20’s to feel lucky that they were diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, they would have to be a very special individual.

Hannah Smith is just that: very special, indeed.

Her story isn’t just one of survival; it’s an inspirational journey of using what many of us might consider a nightmarish situation to then fully live life and recognize the beauty and wonder that exists all around us.

In this episode, Hannah shares her incredible journey and outlook with us.

From her life before her diagnosis, through the treatment and recovery, having to adjust to a new ‘normal’, and ultimately achieving goal after goal, not just in regards to competing in races and triathlons, but in all areas of her life.

Her experience, attitude and advice are not helpful only to those with significant health challenges, but also to any of us who may get so caught up in our busy lives that we lose sight of what is truly important.

She shows us all that living isn’t just about surviving, but it is really about Sur-Thriving.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

What is it like to not know when you’re hungry so that you remember to eat?

How absolutely important attitude is in order to live a full life.

Who was Hannah’s inspiration?

How she managed the emotional cycles of difficult chemo rounds.

Her experience with managing self-expectations.

How she fends off external negativity.

Questions Hannah is asked:

4:52 How did fitness initially fit into your life?

6:57 What happened?

10:36 How did that make you feel to be diagnosed at such a young age?

14:15 At what point after the diagnosis did you refocus on health and fitness?

15:23 What are some examples of cancer fighting foods you now focus on eating?

16:07 How and when did you approach building fitness back into your life?

19:07 Post-surgery, what are some of the funny things that happened and what do you miss?

24:20 How has your sense of humor helped your state of mind?

27:20 Did people try to coddle you as you worked towards your fitness goals, and if so, how did you handle that?

30:17 How would you advise families of patients regarding getting medical clearance to train?

34:35 To what do you credit your improved running times when you started competing again?

39:53 Have you embraced challenges your whole life or only since your diagnosis?

43:05 Do you live a more fulfilling life because you focus more on things you want to do vs. things you feel purely obligated to do?

46:00 Is there a reason for you that running and triathlons mean so much to you?

49:02 What would you like to say to someone who may be going through a similar situation?

54:01 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Hannah:

“You can either be bitter and twisted and angry at the situation or you can make the best of whatever time you’ve got left, because at the end of the day, you’re gonna die anyway.”

“I did come, eventually, to the understanding with my family that (my training) wasn’t anything that I wasn’t allowed to do and that my surgeon (had cleared it).”

“I carry a donor card, but I do feel like when I am gone and they cut me open, there’s just going to be an IOU.”

“Ultimately the biggest goal for me is to be as fit and healthy and the best person I can be.”

“Dream big. And if you hit somewhere in the middle, that’ll be alright.”

“Strangely enough, my experience with cancer was probably one of the best experiences of my life. My life is infinitely better after my diagnosis than before, simply because I now look at things and think, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ ”

“Your brain is the only intelligent part of your body. If you give up mentally, what chance does any other part of your body have?”

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!